Q1.

Overview of current situation In the case study, Hank kolb, director of quality assurance, had encountered some quality problems that had occurred in the company. There has been a lack of product quality control in the management of all departments, i.e. from the working attitude of individual employees, the production line and the market division. Currently, Hanks company is producing a specialized degreasing solvent packed in a spray can for the usage in high-technology sector called Greasex. Hank had feedback from his subordinate that all the spray cans in a total of eight cartons was found to have a little high pressure which deviated from the design specification, and these faulty product was totally ignored by the production supervisor who, instead of sending them for reworking, had resolved the problem by manually turning these spray cans, vented them and thereafter pushed to the market. The reason given by the supervisor was to fulfill the production plan, which could be a delay if to send these rejected spray cans to the rework for rectification. Hank Kolb also noticed that unqualified operator, transferred from other department, is being designated to handle the filling process. And on top of that, the automated filling machine was wrongly utilized as it was not designed for the function of filling. It was switch over by the plant maintenance to handle the lower viscosity of greasex, which constitute to a non-standard downtime of 15% of the actual running time due to the replacement of specialized filling head in six months. And through the feedbacks gathered from the purchasing department, Hank had realized the low quality of plastic nozzles is being fitted to the spray cans, which leads to the slight burr on the inside rim. And had cause an increase in the application pressure at the filling head by the maintenance adjustment in order to resolve troubleshoot this problem. Next, Hank also had queries on the re-design on the contouring of the spray can as he think that it is acting as a venturi when the can is being filled up. Furthermore, no testing on the effect that the contour can was carried out on the filling speed or filling hydrodynamics from the filling head. Another issue that Hank had found out is the deviation of employee performance promotion from the manufacturing manager, as he was pressurized by the general manager in promotion of the supervisor who had deviated from the companys standard operating procedure (SOP) despite of the sub-standard performance that supervisor possesses. The criteria for employee promotion lay down by the general manager was to focus on the cost improvement and reduced delivery time, and not on the quality control of their product. Lastly, Hank had noticed from the marketing division that greasex was rushed in to the market in order to beat their competitors and created a huge back orders for greasex as the production line could not support the demand. As a result, the quality control of greasex was neglected as a slight deviation from the design specification will be acceptable and not focusing on consumer oriented. Below is the cause and effect (fishbone) diagram:

The Cause and Effect (Fishbone) diagram:

Material Material Management Management Man Man

Do not have a set of Standard Operation Procedure Do not have a set of Standard Operation Procedure Insufficient Training Insufficient Training

Usage of low quality plastic nozzle s Usage of low quality plastic nozzle s Poor Working Attitude Poor Working Attitude

Lack of Quality Assurance Lack of Quality Assurance

Improper Process Control Improper Process Control Improper machine usage Improper machine usage

Lack of Process Evaluation Lack of Process Evaluation Lack of scheduled maintenance Lack of scheduled maintenance

Method Method Machine Machine

Q2. Setting up continuing programs In order for Hank Kolb to set up a continuous improvement program, he has to identify the sources of problems and analyse the causes that impacted on the quality control on both the human process and technical process. Hank should adopt one of the continuous improvement program tools Six Sigma, which is a discipline, data-driven and a set of methodology for eliminating defects close to perfection (process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities) in any process, from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service. There are two sub-methodologies: 1. DMAIC Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control Is an improvement system used to develop new processes failing below specification and searching for an incremental improvement. 2. DMADV Define, Measure, Analyze, design, Verify Is an improvement system used to develop new processes or product at Six Sigma quality level, and also in current process requires more than just incremental improvement. With the implementation of either DMAIC or DMADV, Hank can ensure smooth flow of work process and at the same time eliminating defects from the production line. In order to achieve his goal, he had to induce proper schedule machine maintenance and reinforced his workers to follow closely as that will reduced the machine breakdown time and prolong the lifespan of the machine. He should also track down the frequency of the breakdown time and to carried analysis so that preventive plans could be implemented. Hank should also introduce the key performance index (KPI) to its employees and their suppliers, by doing that he will reduce the chances of suppliers supplying low quality plastic nozzles so

that it is costs saving as replacement of the plastic nozzles for the spray cans. Lastly, Hank can also implement incentive awards for employees who met their KPIs in their area of work, and a re-educating program on the quality control for the product and quality services that consumers will get as to achieve consumer satisfaction.